Clashed
by CaseyIsMyValentine
Summary: A Sammy Keyes and Virals crossover. Also contains 'Cammy' for SK fans and 'Ten' for Virals fans! But you have to be patient.
1. Chapter 1

The story will start off with Tory from _**Virals**_ and the POV and move on to Sammy from _**Sammy Keyes **_ and will just keep changing. Some things you should know before you read:  
>•Each chapter will have a MIX of Sammy's POV and Tory's POV.<br>•If you don't understand Tory's as much because you guys have not read the books (for Sammy Keyes people), I'll be explaining things more deeply with her.  
>•Yes, there WILL be Cammy. You actually have to READ the story to understand the Cammy scenes, if you just try to skip, you'll be like "WTF?" so please don't skip. It messes everything up.<br>•If you want to get to the Cammy parts especially since I know you guys are Cammy crazy (hey no worries, so am I) then be PATIENT because there's no other way I can stress this: YOU WILL NOT UNDERSTAND THE CAMMY PARTS IF YOU DON'T READ THIS!  
>Some other things:<br>•Sammy is 14 in this story, she's just starting 9th grade  
>•Casey and Sammy are together<br>•Yes, the two books will eventually like mash into one story, but it starts off with them both in their own lives.  
><em><strong>CAUTION<strong>_: IT GOES FROM TORY TO SAMMY's POV. When it's in South Carolina, it's Tory. In California, it's Sammy. You'll know.

_**Clashed**_

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA...

I woke up feeling not so great. It was the first day of school, which would mean having to face Jason and Chance and the Tripod again.

The Tripod is what I call Maddy, Ashley, and Courtney, which also stood for the Tripod of Skanks.

My name's Tory Brennan, and even though I'm 14-years-old, I'm going into my sophomore year. Yeah, I'm a super-genius like that.

And I really did not want to face Jason, Chance, or the Tripod.

Jason was, for some strange reason, obsessed with me. He has this major crush on me that I will never understand, because he's one of the popular people.

Chance, the most popular boy at school, tried to shoot me and my friends in the head a few months ago, and his girlfriend Hannah went completely psychotic and almost DID shoot us, and instead she shot Chance. Hannah was arrested. Chance is back in school now.

The Tripod like to taunt me as much as they can. It's what they do.

And so I was so not ready for this school year. But I got up anyway, got ready, and headed downstairs.

Kit was already downstairs. Kit is my dad, I had no idea I even had a dad until my mom died almost a year ago. And so I moved here, to South Carolina, to live with my dad. I lived on Morris Island, which had only 3 other kids living there my age amongst the already small amount of people living here.

Hiram, Shelton, and Ben. Hiram is the sarcastic joker, Shelton is the smart one, and Ben is... I don't know, the oldest, I guess. He's 16 already and just a very moody person. I don't understand that guy.

Anyway, to get to my school, Bolton Prep, we all four as a group take Ben's boat (named Sewee) to school everyday. Ben's kind of obsessed with his boat.

I met Hiram on the way to the dock.

"Hi!" I called his name. We call Hiram "Hi" as a nickname. "Hey, Hi! Wait up."

Hi stopped. "Oh, Tory." he grinned. "Are ye ready for this first day of school, me matey?"

"Never talk like a pirate again." I said, laughing.

On the way there Shelton appeared. "Hey, where's Ben?" he asked.

Of course. Trouble on the first day? I hoped not.

"Hopefully at Sewee already." I said. Sighing. Ben is such a wild card.

So is Hi, apparently. "Great, now you'll have to face Chance!" Hi started making kissy faces my way, grabbing for me. "Oh Chance, I love you Chance, even though you tried to shoot me in the head!" he said in falsetto.

I smacked his hands away. "Shut up! I do not like Chance. Not anymore, at least."

"Weasel, he was." muttered Shelton, "Playing you like that...jerk!"

Jerk, indeed. I opened my mouth to agree but I then heard a voice behind me as we reached the dock.

"Who played you?"

I turned around and saw Ben, with his hands in his pockets.

"No one." I rolled my eyes. "And what are you, Batman? Don't sneak up on us like that!"

Ben rarely smiles ever— he more like just keeps to himself and when he does say something, it's sarcastic, cynical, or something along the lines of "Holy shit" or "I'm going to rip those bastards apart".

Yeah, we've all had some pretty great times together. After nearly getting killed ten million times last year. But oh well, what's done is done.

"Tory is really excited for school." Hi said in a stupid voice, "She gets to meet up with her lover again!"

"What— no!" I snapped, punching his shoulder. Stupid Hi.

Ben's brows furrowed; he rolled his eyes and we all got in Sewee, his boat. As Ben steered us toward main land to where Bolton Prep was, Hi and Shelton yammered on about what classes they had this year. Ben doesn't usually say much, like I said. So he didn't contribute a lot. Neither did I, because I was so mixed up on what to do with Jason. Jason was way too nice to me, he liked me way too much, also. It was kind of strange, in a way. Like he would be a way-too-clingy boyfriend, if one. I'm not that type of girl.

Let's be honest here, I know I'm not bad-looking. Jason's obsessed with me and Chance used to tell me I'm pretty all the time, until he decided he wanted to shoot my brains out. So maybe I'm not a supermodel, I'm hoping against everything that I'm actually quite decent.

We reached land and Hi started acting like a pirate again. I tried punching him, bs just grabbed me and lifted me up, onto his shoulders like a giant sack of potatoes. Shelton nervously started rereading his schedule over and over.

Ben spotted Jason coming our way. "Look who's coming." he sneered. Ben and Jason are not on the best terms. I have no idea why. I was just talking to Jason this one day, and Ben was with me and they were acting all weird with each other. Like glaring.

Hi put me down and Jason said, "Hey, Tory! How was summer on Gilligan's Island?"

I laughed, "Pretty good. What about Mount Pleasant? Pretty pleasant in the summer?"

"Very." he nodded. Ben glowered at Jason. Why in the world did they hate each other so much? I would never know.

Hi and Shelton shrunk back like they always did when talking to a Popular Person. Suddenly the Tripod- Maddy, Ashley, and Courtney, appeared out of nowhere.

When they saw me with Jason, they glowered at me. Jason was one of them; and I was not. Jason kept inviting me to the Popular Parties and places like that, but I kept refusing, only because I felt too awkward to hang with them. I didn't belong.

Jason's smile vanished. "Oh, hey, Maddy. Courtney. Ashley."

Suddenly Ben coughed. Really loud. Before anything too horrible could happen, I noticed Chance coming our way. Not good. I hoped he didn't have a gun with him this time, the creep. Plus, I was kind of embarrassed at how he had played me so bad last year.

So, in an effort to avoid Chance and any awkward situations between us all, I said a quick bye to Jason and hurried off, my friends following me.

"Didn't want to face Mr. Kiss-and-Kill?" Hi teased.

I glared at him. "Shut up." stupid, stupid, stupid Hi.

Ben frowned. "Mr. What-and-Kill?"

Hi grinned from ear-to-ear, clearly enjoying this. "Mr. Kiss-and-Kill. Did I tell you about the time Chance kissed Tor—"

"Hey, look, it's a door!" I called, patting a door in the hallway. "Wow, look at this door. What a door-ish door! Look how doory...this door is!"

Ben, Shelton, and Hi just stared at me with uncomprehending faces. Nice distraction, Tor, I thought.

And then the first bell rang. My first class was with Shelton. Ben and Hi went off their own ways.

"Good luck!" I called to them for their first day.

They were already halfway down the hallway, though.

**********************************************************

MEANWHILE...BACK IN SANTA MARTINA, CALIFORNIA:

"Samantha!" Grams shook me. "Wake up! It's the first day of school!"

I sat upright, gasping. Bad dream. Just a bad dream. About murderers.

"Samantha, are you okay?" Grams asked. Today was the first day of high school for me, and I wasn't even nervous. Because I have my friends with me. Marissa, Holly, and Dot.

And Casey, because he already knows his way around and everything.

So I know I'll be okay.

I got up, for dressed, and left the apartment to meet up with Holly outside the Pup Parlor. We're walking to Santa Martina High together today. She saw me through the glass window and waved me in.

I entered the Pup Parlor. "Hey, Holly! Ready for school?" I grinned.

She shook her head. "Well, yeah, but look at this news report." she pointed at a newspaper in front of her.

I leaned over and read the article she was pointing to.

MISSING SANTA MARTINAN GIRL FOUND DEAD IN SOUTH CAROLINA. was the headline. I read the article. I learned that some girl named Jessica or something had been missing here in Santa Martina for over a month, and found dead at a beach somewhere in South Carolina.

"Whoa. All the way in South Carolina?" I inquired. "That's strange."

Holly nodded. "It just creeped me out. Imagine being kidnapped and killed so far away from your home."

I didn't want to. After my dream last night, this wasn't helping at all. "Let's just get to school." I shook my head. "And try to think of happy things?" I suggested.

She shrugged. We both headed out and skateboarded to school, just to see our friends by a tree in front of the school.

Marissa, Dot, Casey, Billy, Danny. All there, just chatting. Actually, they seemed to be in a serious discussion. About what?

Holly and I caught up to them. "Hey!" I called.

Marissa practically pounced on me. "Sammy, you will never believe this."

"What? What happened?"

Casey pulled out an iPhone and showed it to me. On it was a news website, reporting three more missing people.

One of them was Monet Jarlsberg, Heather's idiot friend.

Another was Elyssa— that elf girl I had met a few years back during Christmastime.

The last one was a boy I didn't know. I felt my throat tighten. "Three people? All missing?" what were the odds that I would know two of them? Sure, I didn't really like Monet but that didn't mean I wanted her DEAD.

Everyone looked kind of apprehensive, bug-eyed, still a little wary and cautious. Like they'd all rather be in bed right now sleeping than have to talk about the kidnap or possible murder of people we sorta knew.

"I know that girl, Elyssa." It barely came out a whisper.

We were all sort of silent.

This was not a nice start to the first day of high school.

*****************************************************

BACK IN CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA:

The day could not have gotten worse. It seemed as if people thought I was weird just because I was in one grade above what I should be in. Like they thought I thought I was better than them, which was so not true. Well, sort of.

At lunch time, I was relieved to find out that I have the same lunch as Hi and Ben. Shelton was not in my lunch period.

I met up with Hi at the doorway. "Where is Ben?" Hi asked. "Why is he always missing or late or—"

"Right here."

Hi and I whipped around to find Ben standing right there, hands in pockets, smirking.

"Stop that!" I snapped.

Hi groaned. "Who do you think you are, Ben? Batman?"

"That's what I called him earlier." I grinned and held up a hand to high-five Hi. We did. Ben scowled. But he didn't say anything.

We all found a table to sit at and after we got our lunch, Ben said, "You guys heard about the recent murder here?"

"What recent murder?" I asked, suddenly not even caring about my lunch.

Hi looked from Ben to me. "Hey, guys, how about we talk about something normal? Like video games? Or tv?"

We ignored him. Ben continued, "Some girl was kidnapped all the way from California. And she was found dead, here. In Charleston. On Sullivan's Island."

"Really?" I gasped. "When? Wait, how? How old was she? All the way from California? That's across the country!"

"Slow down, slow down." Hi said, "You're saying the killer brought her HERE and killed her?"

Ben nodded. "My dad was boating out there the other day and heard some story about it. It's in today's newspapers, which I'm sure you guys haven't read."

That was one of the longest sentences I've ever heard Ben utter.

"What's her name?" I choked out. If she was a teenage girl, I'd go nuts. The thought of a poor, innocent teenage girl just taken and murdered make me feel sick to the stomach. Guilty. Why her? What did she do to deserve that.

Ben said, "Her name was Jessica, or Jessie or something. Jessie Burrows, or something."

"And here this," Ben added, "The girl was taken from a place in California called Santa Martina. And now, three more kids are missing in Santa Martina. I think there's some sort of connection."

"Ya think?" Hi snipped.

"Shut up, Hi." I was in no mood for joking now. I pulled out my iPhone and searched up "missing kids in Santa Martina". A recent news article popped up, some sort of local Santa Martinan news station called KSMY.

"The young girl's name was Elyssa Keltner, the teenage girl was Monet Jarlsberg, and the boy's name is Lyle Lacount." I blinked at the screen. "This is horrible."

I then used my iPhone to Google Jessie Burrows. An article came up about how she was recently found dead on the beach on Sullivan's Island. Like two days ago.

I swallowed. The saliva felt thick, I didn't think I wanted to eat at all anymore.

If there was something I hated more than anything in the world, it was the thought of innocent people being stripped of their lives just like that.

I was determined to find out the murderer of Jessie Burrows.

********************************************

BACK IN SANTA MARTINA, CALIFORNIA:

All anyone could talk about that day was the murder of Jessie Burrows and the kidnappings of Monet, Elyssa, and the boy, Lyle. Finally Santa Martina was getting some action for them. To me? Santa Martina is ALWAYS filled with criminals in my opinion. But no one else knows about that, besides my friends. It's not like I go around broadcasting my past of kicking criminal butt, or anything.

After school I dragged Marissa and Casey somewhere with me. Holly needed to work at the Pup Parlor today and Dot had some family duties. So I took Marissa, Casey, and Billy. To Ms. Keltner's house. Elyssa's mom.

There was police tape all around the house. Obviously so they could check everywhere for fingerprint, etc. And yes, there were cops. Everywhere. Ms. Keltner was sitting on the porch steps, vacantly staring at— or through— everything. I tried to get to her but a cop stopped me.

"You can't go there, miss. A crime scene investigation is taking place right now."

I felt like saying, This is the SMPD! Not CSI: Santa Martina. Give me a break. But I didn't. I turned back to Marissa and Casey.

"Now what?" Marissa asked.

Casey looked around a bit. "Hey, isn't that your cop frenemy or whatever?"

Sure enough, I then noticed Officer Borsche. "You're right. Maybe he'll let me speak with Ms. Keltner."

We headed over to Officer Borsche.

"Yo, Borsche!" I called out, just to annoy the other cops around him. "Borcheeeeyyyy!"

Officer Borsche looked highly startled as he made his way to me. "Borschey, really?" he inquired.

I grinned a little. "Just trying to get on their nerves." I gestured to the other cops around us.

He chuckled a bit. "Well, no harm in that." then in a more serious voice he asked, "So, what's new, kid?"

I looked over at Ms. Keltner. "I heard about the kidnappings or whatever. I was...sort of a friend of Elyssa's. I was hoping to get a few words in with Ms. Keltner over there?"

Officer Borsche gives me a strange look. "Well, alright. I guess that would be okay." he escorted me and my friends onto the lawn and to Ms. Keltner.

She finally spotted me. The vacant, empty look in her eyes disappeared. Well, sort of.

"Sammy?" she asked. "Is that you?"

I nodded a little. "Hi, Ms. Keltner."

"You've grown." she got a tiny smile and then it disappeared. Then she didn't say anything.

"I heard about Elyssa." I said awkwardly.

She nodded. Didn't say a word.

"I'm really sorry." I said.

Even Marissa added, "We're all really sorry about it, Ms. Keltner."

She seemed to notice Marissa and Casey for the first time. "Oh. Thank you... Who might you two be?" she still seemed uninterested. I didn't blame her. Her kid had gone missing, after all.

"This is Casey and that's Marissa." I introduced them. They said hello, completed the awkward niceties.

"Well, I'm sure you might want some privacy. So that's all I wanted to say. I better go now..."

She suddenly stood up and said, "No! Don't leave. I have a favor to ask you, Sammy."

"Anything." I nodded gravely. I felt bad for the poor woman.

She reached into her pocket and handed me a note. "This was left in Elyssa's room. I don't know what to make of it, and the police say it has nothing to do with this crime, but I have a feeling." she looked around nervously. "They won't listen or even bother, but I know you and Officer Borsche have gotten really close. Do you think you can show this to him? Ask him to just think about it. I know my daughter. This must have something to do with it.

"I'm asking you because you and Officer Borsche know each other well, and you were the person to find Elyssa when she 'ran away' those years ago. I can trust you."

I took the crumpled slip of paper from her. "Of course I'll show it to him, Ms. Keltner. You're probably right. Anything can be another piece of evident, right?"

When were off her lawn and back on the sidewalk Casey asked, "What's on the paper?"

I looked at it. It looked like it was torn out of a diary or something. It said, "Dear journal, I'm going to the forest by the park today just to roam around, with a friend. I have a feeling something good is going to happen this week."

The entry was labeled from two days ago. The night she went missing. How could the police think this was relevant? This was totally relevant! That could have been the last place she was before she was taken.

I headed straight for Officer Borsche. And straight into a lot of trouble.

**********************************************

BACK IN CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA:

Ben, Hi, Shelton and I were on Ben's boat Sewee, on our way to Sullivan's Island. I wanted to be there, the official crime scene. I don't know why. Maybe there would be something there to help us figure out who murdered Jessie Burrows and kidnapped those three kids from California. Because it was obvious that the Jessie murderer was the same as the kidnapper. Jessie had come from Santa Martina and the three kids were now missing. From Santa Martina. Connection? I think so.

When we arrived at the island, Ben stopped the boat and we all hopped out onto the sandy beach.

"It's so humid and it's the end of summer!" Hi complained loudly. "I wish I had worn shorts!"

"Quit complaining," I ordered. "Let's go see if we can figure out where Jessie was murdered."

Shelton, who was now informed about all of this, plus more, said, "When I was looking into all this online, it said that she was found dead by the two large skull-shaped rocks at the end of the beach."

"Really?" I asked. "And how do we find these skull shaped rocks? Were there pictures?"

Shelton shrugged. Then he pulled out his iPhone and said, "If I can get reception, maybe I'll be able to look it up." he pressed around on his phone while the rest of us ventured further onto the beach.

I looked for any skull shaped rocks. No such luck.

"No reception." he called. "Maybe we could go back, look it up, and come back tomorrow!"

"No!" I snapped. "It took us thirty minutes getting here!"

"Sorry, bro, I'm not driving you guys back here." Ben was the oldest of us all. He was 16. Shelton and Hi were 15, and I was 14. Yet, they all obeyed me like I was the pack leader for some odd reason.

"Maybe you'll be able to smell the scent of dried blood or dead body if you flare." Hi suggested.

Right. How could I ever forget? Last year, we had saved a wolfpup from a scientific lab and accidentally gotten infected with some wolf DNA virus. Now we had part wolfdog DNA in our systems. No, we didn't transform into wolves or anything. We just had be ability to "flare" which basically just gave us supersonic eyesight, supersonic hearing, and super speed and super strength. Nothing else, really. No physical wolf changes. No fur or tails. The only thing that change while we "flared" was our eyes, they turn golden. We haven flared in a while. Really no reason to. All we needed to do when flaring was her fired up or heated or angry somehow.

I thought about the murders. Innocent people. Killed.

SNAP.

I was officially flaring. I saw Ben flare too, his eyes turn golden. "So?" I asked Shelton. "What exactly do I sniff for?"

He looked at Ben and me. "Blood? The scent of a dead body? Even if the body is gone now, the scent would still have remained for a day or so."

I sniffed the air. Nothing. I could see Ben had no luck either.

Suddenly I smelled it. A coppery, salty scent. Kind of stale. Old blood.

"There!" I pointed through some thick trees to the other side of the trees. Shelton and Hi both flared too, their eyes turning golden. And we quickly raced to the other side of the forest. The run, for a regular person, would fake five minutes. For us it took five seconds.

When we reached the other end of the beach, I spotted the two giant rocks that looked like old gorilla skulls or something.

"Okay, you guys can flare out now." I said.

SNUP.

Our eyes all returned back to normal color. We headed for the rocks. Around the two skull rocks were lots of other jagged, tall, sharp rocks. What a terrible place to die.

I poked around a bit. So did the rest of the guys. Finally Ben said, "Hey, what's this?"

I looked over and saw him pull out a used cigarette from a small crevice in between the rocks.

"A cigarette." he said thoughtfully. "I highly doubt Jessie Burrows was smoking when she was about to be murdered."

Hiram's eyes widened. "You're saying that's the killer's cigarette?"

"That's exactly what he's saying, Hi." I said. I reach into my tote bag and bring out a ziplock. "Put that in here, Ben." I said. He did.

"Now, let's look for more." I said. "Even if we don't find anything, we still have a start, right? Maybe I can ask Jason's dad to scan this for fingerprints for us." Jason's dad was a police officer specializing in murder.

Ben scowled. Like I said earlier, he and Jason completely hated each other for some unknown reason to me.

"Right," Ben snapped. "Jason to the rescue."

Well then. If he wanted it to be that way, fine.

*******************************************

BACK IN SANTA MARTINA:

Officer Borsche had been surprisingly understanding. "Hmmm," he said. "This is good. A lead." he nodded at me. "The other cops won't buy it, though. Say it'll be a waste of time. But maybe tomorrow afternoon we all could go to the forest together and scope it out, just in case?"

I nodded. "Sure, sounds fine." I turned to Marissa, who hated anything that had to do with bugs and trees. Sure, I wasn't the biggest insect fan either, but if it was just for an hour (WITH my high-tops) I could deal.

"I think I'm busy." Marissa said nervously. Then she said, "Aw, heck with it. I'm deathly afraid of forests and bugs, okay? I'm out."

I sighed. "Casey?"

He shrugged and grinned. "Me? I'm in. Why wouldn't I be?"

I nodded to Officer Borsche and Casey. "Okay, then."

"Tomorrow at six pm." he said solemnly. "Be at the park. We're going to solve a murder case." he glanced back at the cops doing stupid pointless searches around the house. Dumb Santa Martinan cops.

"We're going to solve a murder case." he repeated again. "The right way." he paused again before adding, "The Sammy Keyes way." he then winked at me.

In a horribly odd way, I sometimes wished he was dad. Together we would be unstoppable, Officer Borsche and I.

Whoa. Did I just say that? Forget it. I'm running high on emotions today.

~~~~~~~~

The next day at 5:50 pm, I met Casey halfway to the park.

"Ready?" I asked and I laughed when I saw him. Black jeans, black t-shirt. "Nice ninja look." I noted.

He grinned. "I guess I'm new to this whole crime-solving thing."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not crime-solving. I'm just helping Officer Borsche because the other cops are idiots."

"Tell me about it." be wrapped an arm around my waist. "What do they think they'll find, searching around the house like that? Hair follicles? Clothing fibers? This is Santa Martina we're talking about, not CSI."

"That's exactly what I was thinking!" I gasped, then we both cracked up. We stopped shortly after, though, because there was still three kids missing. Two of them which we knew. "How is Heather dealing?" I asked softly. Monet was a good friend of Heather's.

He shook his head. "Not well. She's kind of hysterical about it. Thinks she's going to be next."

"Tell her... I'm sorry.." the words came out all awkward from my mouth. "...That her friend...was kidnapped. And possible killed."

He nodded. He looked down at me.

I looked back. I'm such a dork, but I mean it when I say his eyes are a perfect, chocolately, smooth brown. And his hair was a perfect brown, with a perfect, shiny tint of dark red in it. Not orange. A red tiny. And his smile was perfect, too. He had a simple on the right left of his smile. Everything was perfect about it. Everything was perfect about Casey. Even his personality.

I blushed. God, I was such a dork! And cheesy, too. Who knew I could be so cheesy inside my head? Snap out of it, Keyes! I do not get cheesy. Cheesy is not my style.

He probably noticed me staring at him. Like a dork. Finally he laughed and leaned down and kissed me.

It's not the first time we've kissed. But every time feels like the first, every time feels like I'm being electrocuted. In a good way. Does that make sense? Finally he pulled away and I sighed, leaning back a little. He took a deep breath. It was silent for a moment and then be took my hand in his and said, "Come on, we'll get late."

When we arrived at the park, Officer Borsche was there. He was dressed in his usual cop attire.

"Ready, kiddos?" he asked. He looked down at Casey's hand holding mine, noticed how Casey and I were standing too close to each other, and gave Casey this secretive smile.

What was this? A secret male language? Casey seemed to understand Officer Borsche's little look because his face flushed a little and he immedietly broke eye contact. He didn't let go of my hand, though.

"We're ready." I said. "Now let's go before it gets dark."

I pulled the note out of my pocket. And reread it.

'Dear journal, I'm going to the forest by the park today just to roam around, with a friend. I have a feeling something good is going to happen this week.'

I shuddered.

'I have a feeling something good is going to happen...'

Poor Elyssa. She had no idea what would happen. She had no idea she'd be kidnapped.

We headed into the forest by the park. No one really came here, but it was a harmless forest anyway. You couldn't really get lost in this forest, and there weren't any freaky animals or anything. It was just a small little forest by the park. And yet, a little girl was probably kidnapped right in this location.

I signed and shuddered once more. When we were halfway into the forest, I said, "How helpful would it be if we had, like, search dogs to sniff out any scent?"

No one said anything because they were too busy looking around. Casey was by a tree behind me, Officer Borsche was shuffling through a pile of leaves.

This was useless. "Let me climb a tree and see if I see anything."

Casey turned around. "No, you stay down here, I'll do it."

"I know how to climb a tree, Casey."

"Yeah, but..." he sighed. "Okay, fine."

Officer Borsche chuckled under his breath. "Cute." sarcastically.

"Stop that." I muttered to him. "I heard that."

He laughed aloud. I picked a tall tree and climbed up to the highest point I could reach. From there I could see a lot better. I searched, not seeing any signs of a little girl being here, or a kidnapper being here either. Suddenly I saw some dusty footprints in the soil. Like, four yards away from Casey.

And Casey was heading that way. He didn't see the prints, but I did. And he was just about to step on the print and destroy all the evidence unknowingly when I screeched, "Casey! STOP." and, like an idiot, launched myself out of the tree.

Big mistake. I did not land gracefully. I tried landing on my feet, but being over 10 feet above the ground didn't exactly help my momentum. I started with landing flat on my feet. Then I think one ankle twisted and went, "Whoa!" and practically fell sideways.

Casey rushed over to me. "You okay?" he asked, helping me up. Then he added, "Why did you JUMP?"

I laughed nervously. "You were gonna step on the footprints."

Officer Borsche looked around. "Footprints? What footprints?" he whipped out a small black digital camera.

I point to the footprints and begin coughing and hacking like an idiot. God, I always embarrass myself in front of Casey!

Casey helped me walk over to the footprints since my ankle still felt twisted and bruised and horrible. I tried stepping with it and a sharp stabbing pain shot up and down my calf, I let out a small piercing scream.

Casey stooped suddenly, startled by my scream. "Sorry," I said, "My leg."

He gave me a crooked grin. "Want me to carry you?"

I made a mock horrified expression. "Casey!" I gasped, mock shock registering my face. "I am not a damsel in distress!"

"No, you're not a 'damsel in distress'. You're more like a 'damn girl who CAUSES distress'." Officer Borsche said. He and Casey burst out laughing at that one.

"Guys!" I snapped. They looked at me, and burst out laughing all over again.

"Damn girl that causes distress...!" Casey panted, "Nice one, Officer." they high-fived like idiot guys do.

I glared at Casey.

"Thanks." Officer Borsche said. "But it's SERGEANT Borsche to you, young man."

That comment totally killed joke. Plus, Casey noticed me glaring at him.

Borschey took a few photos of the footprints. I was still annoyed at them for teasing me so I pulled away from Casey and knelt down by the footprint.

"It looks big." I said, "Like a man's size."

"What, now the damn girl that causes distress is sexist, too?" Casey teased, kneeling down next to me. "Women can't have big feet?"

"Shut up. I didn't mean that, CASE." I say 'Case' mockingly because I have no better mean nickname for him at the moment. "I meant that it SEEMS like a man sized shoe. Give me a break."

I got up and was ready to just storm away when he caught my waist from behind. He pulled me into a hug— a backward but. My back to his chest. I sighed and turned around. Three inches away from him. Officer Borsche began whistling awkwardly and turned the other way, humming.

"I'm sorry." he whispered, pressing his nose to mine. "Forgive me?" I could feel his warm breath that smelled like a mix of cherries and toothpaste. Was he eating cherries recently?

Stop being weird, Sammy, I thought. And answer him.

His brown eyes were so clear, so shiny. I could see a reflection of my green ones in them.

How could I not forgive him?

"Fine. You're forgiven." I said. "Jerk." I added jokingly.

He kissed me. I tasted cherries. Hmm, maybe he had been eating cherries recently.

"AHEM." Officer Borsche started a coughing fit, after two minutes of me and Casey just standing there kissing.

We pulled away from each other, clearly embarrasses that we had been kissing so much that we had forgotten a police officer was right there with us. Not that kissing was a crime, but talk about awkward!

"Sorry about that, Officer. I mean Sergeant." Casey rubbed the back of his neck, looking at me from the corner of his eye.

I blushed. "Okay, back to business people."

I knelt by the footprint again. "Officer Borsche, it looks like a man's show print to me. Big size. Thick shoe. The marks show that it was a running shoe, see? It has little cleat marks."

Officer Borsche noted all this down on a small notepad.

"You should seriously buy an iPhone, Officer." Casey said, waving his phone.

Officer Borsche scowled. "It's SERGEANT Borsche."

"Why is Sammy allowed to call you Officer?" Casey demanded.

Borschey smiled up at Casey, a thin-lipped smirk. "She was my bridesmaid, young man. I wouldn't even care if she called me Gil."

I started laughing. "Gil? Not in THIS lifetime!"

Officer Borsche said, "Come on, let's look around for anything else."

Casey tucked his iPhone away. "Okay, what do we look for?"

"Anything," Borsche said. "Look for anything. Pieces of clothing, fallen objects, stuff like that."

Ww all kicked, poked, and searched around for a while. Finally it began to get dark. "Forget it." Casey said, "It's too dark to see anything now."

"We just give up." I said, "There could be anything. Ms. Keltner depends on this."

He sighed and suddenly I spotted a white slip that I thought was part of a leaf earlier. But it had perfectly straight edges, like paper. I picked it up. It said:

"Flight to Morris Island, Charleston, NC: 7:45 am WEDNESDAY the 3rd."

"Hey!" I called to the guys. "Isn't North Carolina where that Santa Martinan girl Jessie Burrows found dead the other week!"

"Yes," Officer Borsche said slowly, "Why do you ask?"

"I think I know where the kidnapper is right now." I said. I handed hin the slip of paper. Casey also read it.

"But today is the third." Casey said slowly. "So that means he left for Charleston today. In the morning. This morning."

I nodded. "Exactly."

"So." said Casey, turning to Officer Borsche. "You're the police. And now you know where the kidnapper supposedly is. What are you gonna do?"

Officer Borsche shook his head. "No one in the SMPD is going to think flying to South Carolina with be worth their time in the investigation."

"But we has evidence right here!"

"They can say we made it up."

"Why would you do that! You're a sergeant."

"Yes, but...you know they are all...full of themselves. And how a lot of them...don't like me very much." he looked awkward and uncomfortable.

I felt kinda bad. "Hey, I like you." I joked.

"Yeah," Casey said, giving him a playful punch to the shoulder. "I think you're pretty cool for a police officer."

He gave us a little grin. "Thanks, kids. You too." he paused a moment. "How about we work on this case separately? While the rest of them get nowhere here, we fly out to South Carolina."

My jaw dropped. "Um, Officer Borsche? Airplane tickets cost money!"

He grinned and shook his head. "Not if you're a sergeant at the SMPD working on a kidnapping and murder case, they don't. The costs are all paid from the department."

I thought about Grams. If I was with a police officer during this trip to South Carolina, I think she'd let me go. I mean, I'm with Officer Borsche. An adult. A police officer. Someone who knows about mt living situation and never told anyone. Trustworthy.

"I'm in." Casey said. He turned to me. "Hey, you think we could let Marissa and Billy in, too?"

"Could we?" I asked Officer Borsche hopefully, hoping four kids wasn't pushing it.

He grunted. Then he winked. "Why not?"

I guess that sealed the deal, then.

****************************

BACK IN CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA:

The next day of school turned out to be terrible. Hi, Shelton, Ben and I were excited by our cigarette finding but also a little disappointed. It could be anyone's cigarette. And what if Jason's dad scanned it for fingerprints and thought we were too young to get the results? I wanted to know. I needed to know who killed that poor Jessie Burrows girl.

And those three other kids who were kidnapped from California. If Jessie was brought here and murdered, were they going to be murdered here, too? The thought sent shivers down my spine.

That wasn't the reason the day turned out horrible, though. The reason it turned out horrible was because of what happened with Jason.

Ben and I were talking about how to ask Jason to get his dad to scan the cigarette, when Jason came our way.

"Hey, Tory!" he called to me.

"Oh, hi." I called. Even though Jason flirted with me nonstop, I don't like him that way at all. Friends? Sure. More than that? No way. He's too...nice for me. Too...friendly and...perfect.

Jason didn't say anything to Ben. When Ben and Jason first met a few months ago, they seemed to hate each other. I had no idea why. I guess Ben, with his thick dark hair and eyes and who wears practically only black and barely speaks, really doesn't like Jason, who is a blonde lacrosse-playing rich guy. Dark moody people don't get along with bright socializers, I guess.

"I actually had a favor to ask you." I blushed. "Sorry, I ask for too much, favors, don't I?"

He shook his head. "No, it's fine." he winked. "As long as you can do a favor for me in return?"

"If it involves going to any debutante dance, I'm going to kick your ass." I said.

Jason laughed, really loud. I could see him sneaking a peek at fuming Ben out of the corner of his eye. "Oh hey, Ben. Didn't see you there. Did Tory ever tell you the story about how she was an amaaazingly natural dancer at the debutante ball? And she looked gorgeous, I swear, Chance couldn't take his eyes off her..." Jason was looking at Ben for a reaction.

"I'm sure he couldn't." Ben pursed his lips, pressed them tightly together. Ben and Jason were the same age, and even though Jason plays lacrosse, it seemed as if Ben could beat him in a fight. Only because Ben has temper issues sometimes, and then his testosterone rockers skywards and bye-bye clean little jock-face to you. Ben was tall, with a perma-tan, bronze skin. Thick black hair that looked like he styled it perfectly but he probably didn't. Brownish-blackish dark eyes. Jason was a bit taller than Ben in reality but Ben's giant combat boots fixed that. Jason was the exact opposite. Blonde, blue-eyed, sunny-tanned. Even though we have a school uniform, everyone tweaks it so it fits their style. Their shoes give away a lot about them. Mine were just plain back Converse. Ben's were big black combat boots. Jason's were perfectly white Air-Jordan sneakers. Figures.

"Well," I joked nervously, "I also pushed Jason into the wall at that dance. Because I was...feeling very sick. Remember, Ben? When I was feeling very, very sick?"

"Right." Ben was not taking his eyes off Jason. It seemed like those two wanted to kill each other. What was WRONG with them? Ben has never done anything to Jason, and Jason has never done anything to Ben. So what's their deal?

"Moving on..." I said nervously, tucking a strand of brownish, dark-reddish hair behind my ear. "Jason, will you ask your dad to scan this cigarette for me? I need it scanned...for some research project I'm doing."

"It's only the second day of school." he laughed.

"Ha-ha." said Ben sarcastically. "No one asked you, though, what day it was, did they?"

Jason glared hard at Ben. With a strained voice he took the ziploc bag with the cigarette in it from me, way too occupied with being angry at Ben to ask me any more questions. I silently cheered Ben for distracting Jason.

Suddenly Jason did something unexpected. He said all cheery-like again, "So, Tory, as a favor in return, I was wondering if you want to do something this weekend? Like a movie?"

I stared, openmouthed, at Jason. Suddenly Ben said in a dangerously low voice, "Yeah, Tory, why don't you do Jason a FAVOR and go out with him."

My face flushed, skin burned. I was blushing big time. But we needed this cigarette to be scanned, and I'm not sure if he'd do it if I said no. I didn't like Jason that way. He was just a nice friend. I didn't really WANT to go on a date with him.

"Um.. I... Sure." I finally stuttered, my face still burning.

He smiled, "Great! I'll text you the details, alright?" then he didn't even look at Ben as he turned and sauntered away.

"Bastard." muttered Ben under his breath to himself.

"Ben!" I scolded. Then I decided against it. It's best not to bother Ben when he's in a temper.

Suddenly Ben did something even more unexpected than Jason asking me out. He turned his shoulder on me and walked away. Without saying another word to me

"BEN!" I called after the idiot.

"BEN BLUE!" I yelled down the again, "Turn around right now, Blue!"

Ben didn't turn around but a bunch of other people did. People stared at me until I snapped, "What are you staring at!" and stormed off.

At the end of the day I met up with Hi and Shelton outside on the steps. "Where is Ben?" Hi asked.

Shelton groaned. "I think you've said that question three times already in the past two days."

"True." I noted, "But it's also true that Ben is always late or a no-show."

Hi said, "Something's wrong with Ben today. I tried talking to him in the hall the last two periods and he just ignored me." under his breath he added, "Asshat!"

"Hey, don't call people asshats." I said half-mindedly. Even though in my head I was going, Ben is an asshat! Ben is an asshat!

"Actually, I have 7th hour with him and be was being all moody there, too. What's up with him?"

"Probably PMS." Hi winked at me.

"Get a life." I shot back.

"Well, he needs to get here SOON!" Hi whined. "The asshat is our only ride back home! We don't have any OTHER boats to use, you know."

"Relax, the asshat has arrived to take you home." we all turned around to see Ben bounding down the steps. He carefully avoided my gaze. ASSHAT.

"I-I-I-I didn't mean to call you an asshat!" Hi stammered, "I was just kidding! Please don't punch me, you have an unfair advantage! My body can't take pressure."

Ben rolled his eyes and didn't say anything. We all headed back to the dock.

"So did Jason agree to get the cigarette checked?" Shelton inquired.

I nodded slowly, dropping my head so Ben couldn't see my face turn red again. "And Jason, the idiot, asked me out on a date in return."

"OH HO HO HO!" Hi yelled at the top of his lungs, scaring the bejesus out of me. "Tory's for a hot date!"

"It's not a hot date! Shut up!"

"Jason is a bastard." Ben said with such a calm, low voice that I almost laughed. But then I remember how he'd ignored me for no reason and I stopped myself.

Shelton asked, "And why is Jason a bastard?"

"He's a pretty little rich jock," Ben said, clearly enjoying his chance to insult Jason, "Who depends on Daddy's money to survive. All be does is party during the weekends and hit on girls at school."

"Hey, he actually works in class. And he's nice." I pointed out. Ben is one of my best friends, and I'd rather lose Jason as a friend than Ben, but still. Jason isn't THAT bad.

Ben sneered, "Of course, you're supposed to defend your boyfriend, right?"

I fumed. "He is not my boyfriend!" then I added, "Gross!"

Hi and Shelton laughed. "Nice, Tory." Hi needled. "Ew?"

"Shut up. And guys, don't make this into anything bigger than it should be. Because it's just one stupid measly date and then nothing. Alright? I don't like Jason."

I was angry. Really, really angry at Ben for being such an...asshat!

"And even if I did," I snapped, just for Ben's non-benefit, "It's not of your testosterone-filled business, ALRIGHT?"

Silence.

Then Hi whistled. "Tory got 'tuuuude!"

And that settled it.

**END OF CHAPTER ONE.**


	2. Chapter 2

_**CLASHED - Chapter 2**_

IN CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA:

SAMMY'S POV:

Wow, I was actually in South Carolina. To catch a murderer. With my friends and police officer friend. Wow.

There was no hotel room on Morris Island, the place we had to come to. Officer Borsche actually had a relative who lived here, named Larson. We were all staying at Larson's house for the weeks we will be here.

Yes, I said weeks. Borsche has no idea how long this case could take. So we are enrolled as "temporary students" at Bolton Prep, the high school that kids go to from here.

Since the school knows that we four students are here in South Carolina on a police investigation, we're allowed to be excused any time we want during the day, for good reason. Other than that, we must stay in school and learn. We can't afford to miss more than a week of school, you know.

Today was a Monday morning and Officer Borsche took us all down to this dock that Morris Island has. He was trying to figure out if anyone gave boat rides for money, kind of like a taxi. We needed to cross the bay, and fast. School was going to start without us.

Oh, yeah. Did I mention Bolton Prep has a uniform? And we are the only four students exempt from wearing it while we attend it? Double sweet.

As Officer Borsche searched around, Marissa spotted a bunch of guys waiting around by a boat. "Look, cute guys!"

I looked up. One was sort of short, one had super thick glasses, and one was tall and, actually, really cute.

Casey rolled his eyes and snorted and I said, "Why don't you go talk to them? Maybe they'll give you a ride on their Loooveboat."

She grabbed my arm. "You're right! Let's go!"

"Wait, wait, wait! I only meant you. Not me. I don't have Flirting Rights, Marissa, my boyfriend is standing right there!"

Casey saluted. "That's me."

"Then Casey can come too. And you too, Billy. Let's go flirt with cute guys!"

"Sounds like a blast!" Billy said in falsetto but when Marissa couldn't hear, he muttered, "Pushy, pushy."

I rolled my eyes too and we all headed over to the three guys.

"Hi." I said lamely, because Marissa had suddenly lost her ability to speak. "I'm Sammy."

They all stopped pacing and seemed to be staring at me strangely, as if noticing me for the first time.

"You new here?" the shortish one asked.

"Yes, I'm new." I nodded. "These are my friends. Marissa, Case—"

"Guys, sorry I was so late!" a girl that looked about the same age as me ran down the hill down to where the three guys were. "Are you all ready?" she then noticed us four.

"Oh. Um. Hi." she looked like she didn't know what to say.

"Who are you?" she finally said lamely.

"That's Sammy." the short one said to the girl with a weird expression I couldn't read on his face.

"Oh. Hi, Sammy. I'm Tory. You new?"

"Um, we're new, yes. These are my friends. Marissa, Casey, and Billy." I pointed at each of them as I said their names.

"Hey." Tory said to them. "This is Hi," she pointed to the short one who kept staring at ms win wide eyes. "That's Shelton." she pointed to the boy with glasses who looked like he was analyzing us. "And this is Ben." she lastly pointed to the tall, cute one.

I rolled my eyes. Of course the cute one would have the most normal name. So typical.

The guys all said their awkward "Heys" and Marissa finally croaked out a "We're going to Boston Prep. Do you know a ride?"

Tory grinned. "Hey, we go there too. You can ride with us if you want." she turned to the one named Ben. "Right? They can ride Sewee?"

Sewee? I thought. The boat's name is Sewee? I didn't say anything aloud, though. If I did they'd probably never let me on the boat.

Ben shrugged. "I guess."

Marissa grinned in delight. Billy followed Tory onto the boat, hypnotized, like a lovestruck piranha. I grabbed Casey's hand. "Hey, can you call or text Officer Borsche telling him we got a ride to school?"

Casey pulled out his iPhone and used one hand to text the message. "He replied saying 'cool'." Casey stated. We both stepped onto, um, Sewee.

As the boat took off down the bay, Tory asked, "So, why are four of you kids just suddenly new here on Morris Island? All related somehow?"

It seemed at if I was the spokesperson of our group. "No, we're not related. At all. We're just here with a police officer...on an investigation...for a murder." coming out of my mouth, it sounded so lame. "We're only attending Bolton Prep for couple weeks. That's why we don't need uniforms or anything."

"Ohh, that explains it." Tory nodded.

"Are you single?" the boy named Hi suddenly asked me.

I blinked. Weirdo. "Um...no."

Casey snorted.

Hi turned deep red. "I was just wondering, because he was holding your hand and...stuff. You know."

"Right." Tory smirked at him. "Get real, Hi."

We spent the rest of the boat ride getting to "know" each other and the place. We learned that no other teenagers besides those four lived on Morris Island, other than that, only adults lives there in the houses. Bolton Prep was a snotty rich-kid school that they hated attending.

Crap.

Hi seemed to get along well with Billy. They were both major jokers, Hi was more sarcastic and Billy more wacky. Shelton and Marissa really hit it off, just chatting about whatever they were chatting about. Who knew she was into nerds?

Okay, that was mean, just kidding.

Ben didn't really say much. In fact, he seemed to be avoiding Tory altogether. Finally Casey and Ben actually started talking, and hearing Ben talk was a relief. I thought the guy was mute or something. Anyway, Ben seemed to be cool with Casey.

Tory and I talked too. In fact, I learned that right now, she was trying to figure out the murder of Jessie Burrows.

"You too?" I asked. "That's why we're here. To try to figure out who murdered that girl and who kidnapped the three people from back home." I then told Tory all about the diary entry and the slip of paper we had found in the woods and how it led us here, especially after Jessie Burrows had been murdered here too.

Tory then told me about a cigarette she had found and how she had a friend who was having its fingerprints scanned right now.

Hi overheard us talking about that. "By the way, how was your daaate with Jaaason?" he teased. I had no idea what he was talking about.

Ben stopped talking to Casey suddenly and he stiffened, trying to listen to the conversation.

Tory blushed. "First of all, it was not a REAL date. You guys know I don't like him that way."

I didn't say anything, because I had no idea what was going on.

Tory then got up stiffly and walked the other way, the other side of the boat.

Awkward.

The boat finally stopped and we made our way to the school. It was a large, white, rich-looking school. God, I was not going to fit in at all. Especially since I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt and high-tops, and the people at this school wore a preppy plaid skirt-and-blouse uniform for girls, and slacks-and-tie uniform for boys.

"We look so out of place!" Marissa whined. "I wish I had the uniform."

"No, you don't." Tory said back to her. "You don't know how lucky you are to not have to wear it."

Billy did a cartwheel, "Well, I'm ready!"

I pulled out everyone's temporary Bolton Prep schedules from my bag. These were the schedules we were using while we stayed here. We all have different ones based on the classes we were taking back in Santa Martina. Casey's was the only schedule I knew I wouldn't have any classes with except lunch. Marissa had two classes with me, Billy had three. I don't think I had any classes with Tory or her friends. They were sophomores like Casey, they had told me on the boat.

As I was thinking this, Marissa asked Tory, "Hey, how old are you anyway?"

"I'm fourteen, but...I skipped a grade, so I'm actually a sophomore this year." she blushed a little.

I shook my head. Ugh, so she was girl genius. Great, made me look so good, huh?

"Let's go." I grabbed Marissa and without stopping to talk to Tory or any of her three guy friends, I pulled her up the steps and into the school.

*************************

TORY'S POV

After that Sammy girl had dragged her friend Marissa up the steps, we all just stood around awkwardly. That Casey guy seemed to get along well with Ben. And the guy named Billy got along with Hi.

And Ben was still pissed at me just because I was associating myself with Jason. Well, if he hated him that much, whatever.

Since Hi and Billy were talking to each other, and the Casey dude was talking to Ben and Ben wasn't talking to ME, I ended up conversing with Shelton.

"So, what do you think of these new kids?" I asked.

He looked at me. "You mean that girl Sammy?"

We walked up the steps. I laughed a little. "Yeah, and the other three...?"

He shook his head, his eyes gazed off into the the distance behind his glasses. "Sammy seems awesome."

"You barely know her." I stated.

He stopped and looked at me. "Ever heard of love at first sight?"

Shelton, who was normally so smart, was sounding like a lovestruck idiot. I sighed. "Yeah, but...but you just met her."

"First sight." he repeated and charged up the steps ahead of me. I was left behind standing there like an idiot. Love at first sight? Come on. She was just a girl. I didn't see him falling in love with ME when *I* first moved here. I scowled. Not that I liked Shelton (no way, he's just a friend!) and not that I want him to like ME, but how come he didn't fall in "love" with ME when I moved here? Am I not pretty enough or something? I sighed and headed inside. Boys. SUCK.

At lunch that day I ended up running into Sammy and her friends Marissa and Casey. Apparently Billy had the other lunch.

Shelton, Hi, and Ben were all for inviting them to sit with us. I was reluctant, only because I didn't like how my friends were treating these newcomers like royalty.

"So did Jason give you the results for the cigarette prints?" Hi asked. "Or was he too busy gazing into your eyes?"

"Shut up. He's not here today." thank God. "Probably sick or something."

"Lovesick." Shelton snorted.

"I wouldn't be talking if I were you." I snapped at Shelton. He shut up immediately.

Sammy and her friends obviously had no idea what was going on. "So... Do you know exactly where this Jessie girl was murdered?" Sammy asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. On Sullivan's Island."

"An island?" Casey cut in. "Can we get there?"

I shrug. "Maybe...it depends on whether Ben here is willing to take us there."

Ben scowled but didn't meet my gaze. "Fine."

Sammy grinned. "Great! So, what, by boat? Like how we got here? Does it take long?" she turned to Casey. "Should we bring Officer Borsche?"

"Whoa whoa whoa." Hi cut in. "An officer? Like a police officer?"

She nodded. "We're here with him. From Santa Martina, obviously a police officer came to investigate."

We all blink at her a bit. What kind of police officer would bring a bunch of kids for a murder investigation to help him? A cool one.

Then I realized that maybe us Virals would have to flare. And that I would NOT want a police officer there to witness it. "Uhh, maybe we should go by ourselves." I said. Ben opened his mouth to protest and I kicked him under the table. I hope he could understand what I meant.

************

That afternoon when I was back home, I got a text message from Hi. 'Whats up with you and Ben? You guys are not even speaking to each other.'

I replied back after a moment. 'He's mad that I hung out with Jason, you know how he hates the jocks'.

Hi didn't respond. I seriously hoped Ben would get over his grudge. I hated being around my friends when he was mad at me. Finally Shelton sent me a text saying 'We're all at the dock, come on'.

When I reached the dock, sure enough, everyone was there. Sammy and her friends and the three other Virals.

Shelton was over by Sammy, probably trying to "seduce" her with his sexy glasses (sarcasm) but judging by the way that Casey guy was standing so close to her, I was pretty sure Sammy wasn't exactly available to be seduced. She still looked like she was having a normal conversation. Gotta give the girl props.

"Tory." I turned around to see Ben. "You finally here?"

"No." I rolled my eyes. "I'm still home." then I added. "And stop creeping up on me!"

He rolled his eyes too. And didn't respond. Typical him. I decided that if there was any tension between us now, this should be the end of it. "Hey," I said before he stalked away. "Wait."

He turned around. "I'm, uh, sorry that I have to hang around Jason so much. I know you hate those snobby socialites so...sorry."

He didn't say anything. Something in his eyes flickered. An apology, perhaps. He nodded and turned away. In Ben-speak, that meant apology accepted.

Breathing a sigh of relief I clapped my hands together. "Okay, everyone here?" our group had gotten pretty large now that Sammy and her little gang had arrived.

They all nodded and we boarded Sewee. With 8 people, it was actually kinda crowded. I ended up next to Sammy, with that Billy guy squeezed on the other side of her. Hi sat next to me.

"Hi." I said to Sammy awkwardly.

"Yeah?" Hi faced me.

I swatted at him. "No, not you, Hi. I'm trying to make conversation with the new girl."

"The new girl is sitting right here." Sammy said.

"Oh." I blushed. "Right, I obviously knew that, I just...Hi."

"Hi to you too." she smirked. "So, not to change the topic so fast, but do you guys have anything else you know about this murder besides a cigarette?"

I shrugged. "No. Not really. You?"

She nodded. I watched as Ben steered the boat, Casey leaning against the side, talking to him. Whenever that Casey guy was around Ben, Ben actually seemed to talk. I scowled. So this new guy from California flies in and makes Ben actually have a conversation for once, but his three closest friends can't? Why does he talk with Casey and not with me or Shelton or Hi? Are we not good enough? Is our DNA not mangled enough to make us close? Or do we need to inject ourself with dolphin DNA, too, to make us more connected. Sammy spoke, causing me to snap out of my thoughts. "Three people from back home have gone missing. Jessie lived in Santa Martina where I live, and now a girl named Elyssa, a girl named Monet, and a boy named Lyle have gone missing. Elyssa's mom gave us a journal entry from Elyssa that said Elyssa would be in the woods, so Casey, Officer Borsche and I went to the woods. We found a little scrap of paper in the woods by some page footprints. The scrap said that there was a flight to Charleston- which is here, obviously, just recently. It was a lead." Sammy shrugged. "So we took it."

"So you think the same person who killed Jessie took those three other kids and flew them here to kill them here, just like they had to Jessie?"

She nodded. "Exactamundo. Now I have no idea why they would do that. Why would anyone kidnap someone, fly them across the States, kill them on an island and leave the body there? That's odd."

I had to think about it. The idea that three innocent kids were missing made me feel sick, so to get my mind off that, I tried to think of a motive for the killer. Why would anyone...?

The Billy guy suddenly said, "What if there's a torture chamber on the island that the killer uses on the people?"

"Not funny, Billy!" Sammy snapped. It really wasn't funny. I looked up to see Sammy's friend Marissa talking to Shelton. Great, Shelton would probably be in love with two girls now. Sammy's head dropped into her hands. It seemed as if she had a headache.

Hi said, "But that Jessie girl's body didn't show any signs of being tortured in the autopsy, did it?"

Sammy's head snapped up. "What autopsy? They already performed the autopsy?"

I gave Hi a searing look. "The autopsy results haven't come up yet. Last time I checked, anyway. For all I know the results could have come in by now."

Hi squinted. "Oh. So, check, then."

I pulled out my iPhone, ready to check the Internet for Jessie Burrows's autopsy results. Unfortunately I had no bars whatsoever. I sighed and put the phone away. "Why don't we destroy AT&T?" I wondered aloud. "And create a new cell phone server. Called 'We Will Never Fail You When You Most Need Us'."

"Creative." Shelton sauntered over. He snorted. "Except I, for one, think AT&T is the best."

"Ew." Hi snapped. "I'd think that you being the technology geek and all, would know best that T-Mobile is where it's at."

Sammy held her hands up. "Why are you guys having this discussion?"

Sammy has never met us nerds before, has she? Nope. She'll have to get used to our geeky rants eventually. Billy stood up and walked over to where Casey was. It seemed as if those two were close. Kinda of how Shelton and Ben were close.

Hi was close, too. To me. Not in the way you'd think. He was just SITTING too close to me.

"Can you scooch? We have room now." I asked him.

"Ask the fat guy to scooch, huh?" he mumbled.

"You're not fat." I told him. "You're big-boned."

Shelton said, "Not a pound over 200, bro."

"Speak for yourself, Shelton." Hi said. "You're not a pound over 80."

I snorted.

"You too, sister!" Hi snapped at me.

Oh.

Sammy was obviously very amused at our bickering, but kept quiet. I felt bad for leaving her out so I said, "Back onto to the topic, what are we looking for exactly on the island? We already found the cigarette pack."

Sammy shrugged. Her mind seemed kind of far off. She said, "I have to go talk to Casey. Sorry." she got up and walked to the front of the boat by Ben, Casey, and Billy.

I sighed and looked over at my two idiot friends. "You guys scared her off."

"No," Shelton said, his gaze following Sammy as she walked, "Our amazingness scared her off."

I stood up and stretched. Patted Shelton's shoulder. "Keep telling yourself that, BRO."

********************

Sammy's POV

I've got to say, Tory and her friends are quite strange. But have it as it is, I actually like them. Its fortunate that we ran into people who are normal and not some idiot like Heather Acosta or Monet—

Oh. Right. Maybe I shouldn't talk bad about Monet while she is possibly being murdered right now. Or held captive, or something.

After listening to Tory and her friend bicker for a couple minutes, I decided to get to know the other guy more. He hasn't said one word to me. Something about him tells me that he doesn't like me very much. I get that a lot, but I at least want to know why he doesn't like.

Casey was standing by him. Billy was with Casey too. "Hey." I said to them when I approach. "So...what's up?"

Casey shrugged. "Uh, not much. Talking about the whole Jessie Burrows thing. I was explaining to Ben about the three other kids who've gone missing."

I made it like I hadn't even noticed Ben before now. "Ohh, hi. You're Ben, right?" I turned to face him.

His hands were busy steering the boat but he gave me a little nod. "Yup."

"So...you like...boats?"

He nodded again. "Sure." his face was straight ahead looking at the ocean as we passed over it.

"Um.." this guy obviously had no conversational skills. Sighing, I turned back to Casey and Billy. "We were talking about how we still haven't seen the autopsy results." I said to Casey. "Billy had mentioned something about a torture chamber which was just a ridiculous theory of his which is just..."

"Ridiculous?" Casey kinda laughed at my failure to finish the sentence properly.

I scowled. "Yeah. Ridiculous. Anyway, it brought us to think that maybe there is something more to this. After all, why would someone kidnap someone and kill them all the way across the country? Why bother? Maybe there is something about the autopsy that can...you know..."

"Help us find out his motive?" Casey finished for me.

"Exactly." I saw him smirking at me. "Shut up, just because I can't finish my sentences properly doesn't mean I wasn't thinking it."

"Uh-huh." he was still smirking.

Billy then said, "So basically, thanks to Billy Pratt and his genius theory about torture chambers, we all now have a straw to grasp at."

I looked at Billy. Pursed my lips. Ben, behind me, snorted.

"Sure, Billy." I said. "Whatever you say."


End file.
